Weekly: Accept, then grow
I want to share a quotation from the poet Rainer Maria Rilke with you:
“Perhaps everything terrible is, in its deepest being, something that needs our love.”
Promise me something: the next time that you start thinking of yourself as terrible/horrible/awful/disgusting/unloveable/insert mean words of choice here, pause and remember this quote. This thought — “I am terrible” — is not true, but it is the greatest sign that you are in need of your own love, acceptance, and care.
With love,
Stephanie Harrison, founder of The New Happy
This Week
You think that, once you achieve what matters to you or grow into the person that you want to be, then you will be acceptable.
The truth is that the sooner you realize that you are acceptable right now, exactly as you are, the sooner you will be able to achieve what matters to you and grow into the person you want to be.
Start saying to yourself, “I’m acceptable right now, exactly as I am.” Then watch what happens—how your self-acceptance helps you to grow.
More Tips and Tools
1. Don't listen to the voices — Listen to yourself.
2. Two steps forward, one step backward — Growth is never linear.
3. Feeling many feelings — Your emotions are like the weather.
4. Make your own path — You don't have to follow someone else's.
5. Life is a work in progress — You're not supposed to "figure life out."
Or listen to the podcast episodes (Apple, Spotify) from this week!
Community
What do you want to accept about yourself?
"My graying hair."
"That I am myself, with all my dualities and flaws."
"The fact that I have to live further without my other half."
"That I have slowed down. As someone who worked multiple jobs in her early twenties, it's been difficult to manage that many projects now. And I keep thinking I'm not working hard enough because if I have done it once, I can probably do it again. But maybe I don't have it in me anymore, I'm a tired 30 year old and that should be OK too?"
"I want to accept that I won't always get it right on the first try, so I need to learn how to drop that expectation of perfection and just go for it."
Inspiration
1. Sun bears are real — not humans in disguise (BBC) — This article brought me a profound amount of joy.
2. Jamaica's "Reggae Girls" overcome long odds (CBS) — They had to use GoFundMe to get to the World Cup—now, they're in the knockout stages!
3. This week's New Happy Hero is Alvin Irby (CNN) — His nonprofit has donated 50,000 free children’s books to more than 200 barbershops around the country.
Before You Go
No spam, just joy.
